Utah woman arrested after 7 dead babies found

Sunday

Apr 13, 2014 at 7:15 PMApr 13, 2014 at 9:56 PM

By BRADY McCOMBS and MARTIN GRIFFITHof the Associated Press

PLEASANT GROVE, Utah — A Utah woman accused of killing seven babies she gave birth to over 10 years was arrested Sunday after police discovered the tiny bodies stuffed in separate cardboard boxes in the garage of her former home.

Megan Huntsman, 39, who lived in the Pleasant Grove home until three years ago, had the infants between 1996 and 2006, investigators said.

Neighbors in the middle-class neighborhood of mostly older homes 35 miles south of Salt Lake City say they were shocked by the accusations and perplexed that the woman's older children still living in the home didn't know their mother was pregnant or notice anything suspicious.

Officers responded to a call Saturday from Huntsman's estranged husband about a dead infant at the home, police Capt. Michael Roberts said. Officers then discovered the six other bodies.

Roberts declined to comment on a motive and what Huntsman said during an interview with investigators. He said it wasn't clear if she has an attorney. Huntsman was booked Sunday into the Utah County Jail on six counts of murder.

The spokesman said the estranged husband lived with Huntsman when the babies were born but isn't a person of interest at this time. The man's name was not immediately released.

"We don't believe he had any knowledge of the situation," Roberts told The Associated Press.

Asked how the man could not have known if he lived in the house, Roberts replied, "That's the million-dollar question. Amazing."

The babies' bodies were sent to the Utah medical examiner's office for tests, including one to determine the cause of death. DNA samples taken from the suspect and her husband will determine definitively whether the two are the parents as investigators believe.

Police say the husband was cleaning out the garage when he made the grisly discovery at the house owned by his parents in a city of about 35,000 people at the foot of snow-capped mountains. It's a nondescript, newer home with a brick facade and a star ornament hanging by the door. Several police cars blocked the entrance to the house Sunday evening as officers milled about with the belongings from the garage strewn across the front lawn.

Neighbors told the AP they were shocked and horrified by the accusations of what went on inside. None of them even knew Huntsman was pregnant in recent years.

The family members seemed like nice people and good neighbors, said Aaron and Kathie Hawker, who live next door.

Huntsman moved out several years ago, leaving her three daughters, one teenager and two young adults, to live alone, the Hawkers said. They weren't sure where Huntsman has since been living.

Years ago, Huntsman baby sat the Hawker grandchildren and they were friendly with each other.

"It makes us so sad, we want to cry," Kathie Hawker said. "We enjoyed having them as a neighbor. This has just blown us away."

Aaron Hawker said he talked with the husband Saturday morning. He told Hawker he was cleaning out the mess in the garage.

"Two hours later, suddenly we had all these policemen here," Aaron Hawker said.

Fred Newman, a neighbor whose cousin is the husband's mother, said he's perplexed how the three oldest daughters living there didn't know about what police say was going on. He said the girls didn't always park their cars in the garage, but did sometimes in the cold winter months.

"What's shocking is the three older ones living there and not noticing that their mother was pregnant," Newman said.

He said he has used his snow-blower to clean off the driveway of the home and the young women would thank him.